I Had To Pick My Favorite
by Denaliyasha
Summary: Set after Tony tells a man he's got a dog named Kate. Tate all the way. Kate confronts him in the parking lot. Fluffy, cute, and a very short oneshot. Enjoy.


A/N: I just saw the last episode (dunno what it was called) where Tony is chained to a psycho. Just for background, he tells someone that he has lost a dog named Kate, a Shi Zu (annoying yappy little dogs, and I can't spell the name, so if you know, tell me please) with brown hair, and kinda mangy. When she finds out, she tells Gibbs "Ok, I'm going to shoot him." Later she says she's worried about Tony. This gave me an idea for a cute fan fiction. So, voila. A one-shot that's as fluffy as, well, Fluffy.

Fluffy: I resent that. And if you know who gave me this ridiculous name, tell me so I may kill them.

Heh, you don't want to be on the wrong side of a mad bald eagle. Not going to tell him he's part of my mind, so I named him. Anyhow, on with this cute and fluffy story.

**But I Love Dogs!**

"Hey, DiNozzo. Wait up!" Tony turned to see Kate running after him in the parking lot. She was holding a gift-wrapped present in one hand. He paused.

"Oooh, is that for me? How thoughtful of you." He was surprised when she actually handed him the gift. She smirked as he opened it. "A water bowl?"

"For your dog." He didn't get the look on her face.

"Dog? What dog?"

"Kate. The Shi Zu puppy." At his blank look she grinned maliciously. "The brown haired, mangy one. That you sent that poor motorist to look for?"

"Oh. OOH. Heh, Kate, I can explain that one." Kate was fascinated by his facial expression. Was he blushing? Yes! He was! It was rather cute. It made him look like the kid she knew he was at heart, as opposed to the playboy he pretended to be so often.

"Well? I'm waiting." She tapped her foot, smirking. By this point, she was leaning against his car door and he was standing next to the driver side door. He avoided her gaze as he searched for words.

"Well, I had to come up with some way to get the guy to leave. I figured the best way would be looking for someone, and your name was the first that I thought of to look for. I realized a person wouldn't be practical, but a dog was very believable. Shi Zus are my favorite kind of dog, and since I gave it your name, I gave it your hair. The mangy was an embellishment." He took a deep breath and looked up at Kate. "I picked my favorite of everything, quickly. That's what I came up with."

Kate was now blushing. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but that wasn't it. Something about how she was as cute as a puppy, not that her name popped up when he picked favorites, and not that he then attached it to his favorite kind of dog. "Oh." She glared at his smirk. "Stop doing that."

"Doing what?" His face was the picture of innocence… that is, as close as he could possibly get. Which wasn't close. But you could see he was making an effort.

"You know exactly what I mean." Kate tried to collect herself. She pushed off the car, standing upright and preparing to walk away.

"You mean, don't do this?" Tony was tired of all the flirting, the banter. He was tired of pretending she was his little sister. He leaned forward and kissed her. One of his hands came up to the back of her neck, and the other went to her waist, to pull her closer. She didn't respond for a moment, and Tony was worried she was going to beat him or something horrible when she put a hand on the nape of his neck and other on his shoulder.

They only broke apart when they needed air, and it wasn't until then that they heard the clapping. Half of the people in the building had been watching them. They'd heard the story about DiNozzo calling Kate a dog and had wanted to see her have it out with him. It was also obvious to them that these two had been skirting the issue of a relationship so long they were practically going nuts.

Blushing, Kate buried her face in Tony's shoulder, as he grinned over her head at McGee and Abby, who were clapping loudly with the rest of them. He caught Gibbs' eye, and winked. Gibbs cracked an honest to goodness happy smile and called to him over the noise. "This had better not affect your work, DiNozzo."

Tony smiled and leaned down to whisper in Kate's ear. "I hope you like your Christmas present as much as I did. It's always good to enjoy giving."

A/N: See? All fluffy. Anywho, review, please!


End file.
